Labour blocks plan for Covid witnesses to swear oath

Plans for witnesses to give evidence under oath to a probe into Wales' experience of the Covid pandemic have been blocked by the Labour Party.

Politicians on a Senedd committee tasked with looking at gaps on Wales left by the UK Covid inquiry asked for rules to be changed to compel witnesses to swear they are telling the truth.

First Minister Eluned Morgan confirmed to the Senedd that her party had blocked the move, saying the committee was not a public inquiry.

The Welsh Conservatives said the decision was a "shocking disappointment".

Long-standing calls for a Wales-specific inquiry into how Covid was handled have been rejected by Eluned Morgan and her predecessor, Mark Drakeford.

However Drakeford did agree to establish a committee of the Senedd to read reports from the UK covid-19 public inquiry and examine any gaps identified in Welsh government preparedness and response.

Module 2B of the inquiry looked specifically at Wales last March.

In a letter seen by BBC Wales the Senedd's Covid committee asked Presiding Officer Elin Jones for the Business Committee to consider changing the standing orders – or rules – to allow them to require witnesses to take an oath.

The committee acknowledged its members were not unanimous in making the request.

During First Minister's Questions on Tuesday, the Conservative group leader Darren Millar said that the public needed confidence that the committee had the powers to do its job properly.

He accused Eluned Morgan of "standing in the way of requiring witnesses simply to tell the truth by asking them to take an oath".

During the exchange Millar asked why the government's business manager – Jane Hutt – had blocked the committee's request at a meeting of the Senedd's business committee on Tuesday morning.

Morgan responded: "The answer is because it's not a public inquiry.

"That's the way the system works. We've made it very clear about how we're going to organise this. A vast amount of public money has been spent on this already.

"A vast amount of legal work has been worked on this already. I recognise that people who suffer during a pandemic want answers. They are getting answers."

Millar later called the decision to block the committee's request a "shocking disappointment".

BBC Wales understands that the Conservatives are considering whether to use their allocated time during Senedd business to push for a vote on the issue.

Plaid Cymru, who were in favour of the committee's proposal, accused the government of "running away from scrutiny."

They questioned whether there was any point in the committee if it did not have the "status and credibility" to do its job "properly".